[JURIST] British Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith [Wikipedia profile] provided new details in a speech Tuesday on the creation of a proposed UK crime-fighting agency similar to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. The new institution, to be called the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA), would combine the National Crime Squad, the National Criminal Intelligence Service, and Customs and Immigration Service. It would focus on prosecution of drug and human traffickers, major fraudsters, and pedophile rings, in addition to all types of organized crime including international terrorism. The implementation of SOCA will also include the codification of "Queen's evidence," a law that grants a reduced sentence to defendants who plead guilty and testify against other co-defendants. Review the Serious Organized Crime and Police Bill [PDF text]. In February last year the UK Home Office issued this press release on the initiative. UPI has more.

[JURIST] The Illinois General Assembly [official website] Tuesday passed a bill that would require state protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation. The House gave its approval on the last possible day by a vote of 65-51; the Senate had approved the bill 30-27 on Monday. The bill [PDF text] now goes to Governor Rod Blagojevich [official website], a proponent of the measure, for final signature. Fourteen other states have enacted similar laws. AP has more.

[JURIST] Echoing comments made last week by President Bush [JURIST report], Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Senator Arlen Specter [official website; R-PA] urged Congress Tuesday to put limits on asbestos liability lawsuits. Specter said asbestos lawsuits are causing companies to go bankrupt, leaving victims with little or no compensation. Proposed reforms include a multi-billion dollar compensation fund in exchange for a bar on individual asbestos litigation. The issue of asbestos lawsuits is sharply divided between labor and business. Specter stated that he plans to have a proposal ready to send to the Senate on Friday. Read the text of the proposed Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution (FAIR) Act of 2004. JURIST's Monitor provides recorded video of Tuesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the legislation. AP has more.

[JURIST] In Tuesday's corporations and securities law news, Thom Calandra, former chief commentator for CBS MarketWatch [media website], will pay at least $540,000 in penalties to settle fraud charges with the SEC [official website]. The charges stem from allegations Calandra made over $400,000 in illegal profits by buying shares of certain companies and then writing favorable things about them in his newsletter. Read the SEC press release announcing the deal. AP has more.

In other news, the United States and the European Union will return to the negotiating table in an attempt to reach an agreement which could stop government aid to Airbus [corporate website] and Boeing [corporate website]. The US and EU decided a WTO ruling on the dispute could hurt both sides and have given negotiators three months to reach a deal. The Financial Times has more.... As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, six individuals, two former AOL [corporate website] executives and four former executives from the now-defunct PurchasePro software company, have been charged in an ongoing investigation into a secret negotiation between the two companies to artificially increase PurchasePro's revenues. AP has more....... Daniel Bayly, one of five defendants convicted in the Enron [corporate website] Nigerian barge trial, began his house arrest on January 1. A district court judge also granted a government request to increase Bayly's bond to $2 million. Read the government's indictment against the five defendants [PDF]. The Houston Chronicle has more, plus continuing coverage of the barge trial.... As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, WebMD [corporate website] announced three former employees of Medical Manager Health Systems Inc., a company it acquired five years ago, have agreed to plead guilty to charges of mail fraud. The Tampa Bay Business Journal has more.... Nortel Networks Corp. [corporate website], the largest North American phone-equipment maker, announced 12 executives will repay $8.6 million in bonuses after the company restated results for 2001-2003. Read the Nortel press release. Bloomberg has more.... Intuit Inc. [corporate website], provider of business and financial management software, announced it will pay Lorrie M. Norrington, its former executive vice president, $1.5 million as part of her severance package. Read the Intuit press release . The Silicon Valley Business Journal has more.... The United Steelworkers of America [union website] and PACE International Union [union website] have announced a merger which would create the nation's largest industrial labor union. Read the USWA press release here. AP has more.... The SEC has announced a settlement with Lawrence S. Powell and Delano N. Sta.Ana, former representatives at Kaplan & Co. Securities, Inc., related to their attempt to defraud mutual fund shareholders through improper market timing and late trading. Read the SEC press release and its administrative proceeding press release.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that voters challenging the presidential election results in the Ohio Supreme Court have asked to drop their lawsuit, saying the issue is now moot after last week's certification of the electoral vote and the upcoming inauguration.

[JURIST] The trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic [JURIST Newsmaker] resumed Tuesday at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website] at The Hague with testimony by a French nurse who worked in Croatia during the Bosnian war. Milosevic, who has chosen to defend himself against charges of genocide, questioned the witness whom he had called for two hours about crimes committed by Croats and Bosnian Muslims against Serbs during the 1991-1995 war. Presiding Judge Patrick Robinson of Jamaica called the witness' testimony "irrelevant and second-handed", and warned Milosevic "I hope this is not an example of the way your witnesses will testify. It sounds like a conversation over a cup of tea on the verandah and I don't find it very helpful[.]" Milosevic has 150 days to present his defense, which commenced in September. His trial enters its third year next month. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Attorneys for Zacarias Moussaoui {JURIST Newsmaker] have filed a petition to the US Supreme Court seeking to overturn a lower court ruling that reinstated the US government's right to seek the death penalty against Moussaoui for his alleged involvement in the 9/11 terror attacks. In government custody since December 2001 on 6 charges of terrorism conspiracy, the government contends that Moussaoui was either destined to become "the 20th hijacker" in the 9/11 attacks or to lead follow-up terrorist attacks under orders from Osama bin Laden. The defense petition, which itself is classified, comes after the US Fouth Circuit Court of Appeals in April overturned [ruling; PDF] US district judge Leonie Brinkema's ruling that the government could not insist on the death penalty for Moussaoui while denying him access to possible exculpatory evidence. AP has more.

[JURIST] Sixty-one members of the European Parliament [official website] have presented a plan [draft text; PDF] to eliminate the European Union's current legislative process related to IT patents. The proposed changes reflect the debate over current European law that prohibits software patents, and the Directive on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions [Wikipedia entry; 2002 Commission draft text; EU FAQ]. The directive, which places significant limits on the patentability of software, was adopted in September 2003 and is supported by those opposing software patents on the grounds that changes to European patent law could allow companies to enforce those patents and obtain many more. Supporters of the proposed plan, led by former Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek, cite as their main concern the fact that "patent-related risks increasingly have implications for the decisions taken by public administrations and private sector organizations with regards to (IT) infrastructures." A vote could take place in the next Parliament plenary session scheduled for February 21. eWeek has more.

[JURIST] Three former employees of Medical Manager Health Systems Inc., recently purchased by WebMD [corporate website], pleaded guilty to charges of mail fraud on Tuesday. Federal prosecutors in South Carolina filed charges against the three, including Robert W. Davids, a vice president of Medical Manager, that alleged a systematic plan to receive kickbacks from companies aquired by Medical Manager by forcing those companies to raise prices on products. WebMD has been cooperating with the US Attorney's Office to conduct a full investigation of all WebMD management in order to ensure compliance with the law. AP has more.

[JURIST] A former US Navy SEAL [official service website] testifying Monday in the Article 32 military hearing [Navy JAG backgrounder] of a fellow SEAL lieutenant said that on two separate occasions he witnessed SEALs and CIA officials abusing Iraqi prisoners, in one instance punching, choking and poking in the eye a recalcitrant Iraqi detainee who later died. The alleged incidents took place at Camp Jenny Pozzi, the SEAL base at Baghdad International Airport. Lawyers for the SEAL under investigation disputed the evidence, saying the witness lacked credibility as he had bben expelled from the SEALs after stealing a bulletproof vest. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court unanimously ruled Tuesday in a decision written by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor that a count of conspiracy to commit money laundering does not require proof of an overt act to further the conspiracy. The full text of the ruling in the consolidated cases of Whitfield v. US and Hall v. US [Duke Law backgrounder] is not yet available online. Additional rulings are expected Wednesday.

10:47 AM ET - The full text of the opinion is now online.

[JURIST] A former civilian Arabic translator at the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST Hot Topic] detention camp pleaded guilty Monday to charges of mishandling classified information and lying to investigators. Ahmed Fathy Mehalba, a naturalized US citizen of Egyptian origin, has been incarcerated since his arrest at Logan Airport on September 29, 2003 where he was found to be carrying computer discs that held secret information from his work. Review the original FBI criminal complaint [PDF]. Mehalba's plea represents the first time he has admitted that he knew the discs he had were improperly removed from the base. Defense counsel has stressed however, that Mehalba's bi-polar disorder, for which his is currently on medication, contributed to a confused state of mind, which made it difficult for Mehalba to concentrate on what he was doing. The prosecution has indicated its willingness to allow Mehalba credit for time served, however, which means that by March 8, the scheduled sentencing hearing, he might be free to go. JURIST's Paper Chase has coverage of Mehalba's initial indictment and his original not-guilty plea. The Boston Globe has more.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that President Bush has selected US Third Circuit Court of Appeals judge and former Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff [US DOJ resume, 2003] to be the new secretary of Homeland Security, according to officials speaking Tuesday. The President's previous nominee, former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik, withdrew his name from consideration after revelations about non-payment of taxes for a domestic employee and problematic business connections.

10:49 AM ET - The White House has now posted online a transcript of remarks by President Bush and Judge Chertoff at this morning's nomination announcement ceremony.

5:40 PM ET - Additional materials on Chertoff online include his November 2001 Senate Judiciary Committee testimony on the Department of Justice response to September 11, an Alliance of Justice report compiled for his judicial confirmation hearings, a critical statement on Chertoff's judicial nomination by Senator Edward Kennedy and a more supportive statement by then Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Orrin Hatch.

[JURIST] Six individuals, two former AOL [corporate website] executives and four former executives from the now-defunct PurchasePro software company, have been charged in an ongoing investigation into a secret negotiation between the two companies to artificially increase PurchasePro's revenues. Federal prosecutors have already charged six other PurchasePro executives, and all have pleaded guilty to the charges. Kent Wakeford and John Tuli are the first AOL employees to be charged in the investigation, and both face indictments for stock fraud, securities fraud, making false statements to auditors, and wire fraud. AP has more.

[JURIST] Michael Newdow {JURIST Newsmaker], the same individual who sued to have the words "under God" removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, has filed a suit to bar the planned recitation of a prayer at the presidential inauguration [official website] on January 20. Newdow argues that the use of prayer at a government ceremony is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The government filed a brief on Monday with the US District Court for the District of Columbia arguing that the practice of prayer at inauguration can be traced all the way back to the inauguration of George Washington, and is an accepted and non-controversial part of the ceremony, and asking that the suit be dismissed. Newdow filed the same suit [PDF complaint] in the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last year, but that Court dismissed the suit, ruling that Newdow didn't suffer from a "sufficiently concrete and specific injury." AP has more.

[JURIST] Two Iraqis formerly held as detainees at the Abu Ghraib [JURIST Hot Topic] prison in Baghdad are scheduled to testify by videotape today as part of the prosecution of Spc. Charles Graner [Wikipedia profile] on multiple charges [original chargesheet; two charges have since been dropped] of mistreating prisoners at the facility. In opening arguments Monday before a military jury at Fort Hood. Texas, Graner attorney Guy Womack [law firm website] downplayed his client's treatment of prisoners, denying they constituted torture and instead comparing them to milder activities like building a cheerleaders' pyramid or walking a toddler on a leash. Prosecutors, however, countered with previously unreleased video of male prisoners being forced to masturbate as a group and a picture of a female prisoner ordered to expose her breasts. Three other soldiers from Graner's unit who were previously convicted for their roles Abu Ghraib abuses also testified against Graner [AP report] Monday. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] ordered Monday that a Bible had to be removed from a display funded by the private homeless mission Star of Hope [organization website] outside the courthouse in Harris County, Texas [official website]. The County had requested that the display be allowed to remain pending the outcome of an appeal to overturn US District Judge Sim Lake's ruling that the Bible's placement violated the Establishment Clause [First Amendment Center backgrounder] of the First Amendment [text]. Harris County Judge Robert Eckels [official website], a supporter of the monument, has stated that the County will fight to see the display returned to its place, including take the case before the US Supreme Court. AP has more.

[JURIST] British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw [official profile] has announced in the House of Commons that the last four Britons held by the US at the terror suspect detention camp at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST Hot Topic] will be released in a few weeks. UK Attorney General Lord Goldsmith [official profile] talked to the BBC this morning about the four - Moazzam Begg [Cageprisoners.com file] from Birmingham, and Martin Mubanga, Richard Belmar and Feroz Abbasi from London - whose release he said the government had "long sought." Listen to his interview [RealPlayer audio] on BBC Radio 4's Today program. In October last year it was learned [BBC News report] that Begg had written a letter to the US authorities [PDF copy; transcript] in July complaining of torture, death threats, solitary confinement and being detained without charge. In March last year the US released the five other British citizens in Guantanamo detention; on arrival in the UK they were questioned by police but later were all released without charge. In October four of them sued the US [JURIST report] for their detention. BBC News has more.

In a related development Tuesday, Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock [official profile] announced that Australian terror suspect Mamdouh Habib, who recently claimed in court papers that the US transfered him from Pakistan to Egypt for torture [JURIST report], will soon be released without charge from US custody at Guantanamo. Read the full text of the Australian AG's statement on Habib's release. AP has more

8:32 AM ET - The UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office has now released the transcript of the Foreign Secretary's remarks:

Following contacts between the UK and the US, involving in particular my Right Honourable Friend the Prime Minister and his office, and between US Secretary of State Colin Powell and myself, the US Government has now agreed to the return of all four men to the United Kingdom. That decision follows intensive and complex discussions to address US security concerns. All the families have been informed of this decision this morning, as, Mr Speaker, have their MP's.

The four men will be returned in the next few weeks. Once they are back in the UK, the police will consider whether to arrest them under the Terrorism Act 2000 for questioning in connection with possible terrorist activity. Any subsequent action will be a matter for the Police and the Crown Prosecution Service.